8 Points To Watch In The Thunder Vs. Spurs Series

While sports prognosticators forecast an Eastern Conference Finals full of egos, technical fouls and flops, the Western Conference has provided basketball fans everywhere with the prospect of a seven-game series worth salivating over. San Antonio and Oklahoma City are both incredibly likable, immensely talented teams led by low-key superstars and superb supporting casts. And, while it’s incredibly difficult to sit here and pick the better of the two teams with much confidence, we here at TSS will do our best to provide you with some storylines to consider before tonight’s Game 1 tips off at 8:30 p.m. ET on TNT.

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The series key will be Ibaka and Perkins vs. Duncan… Duncan is a 5—i don’t care what everyone else says. That boy is a center and has been since his Wake Forrest days. With that said, if OKC’s 5 position doesn’t make Duncan work on D, then Timmy’s gonna be fresh and snap on ’em in the 4th Q.

I think Stephen Jackson will play a role, too. He’s a big rangey defender with game on O and nobody on OKC can really match up with him when he’s cooking. But I can see Jackson guarding Ibaka who spends more time popping out on jumpshots than posting.

Scotty Brooks is a nice solid coach but he always has that look in his eye like he just figured the game out half-way thru the post-game press conference. Popovich is gonna eat him for BBQ with a side of melon and baked potato.

I say you gotta keep Harden coming off the bench. Ginobli’s coming off the bench and OKC’s gotta have someone to combat that momentum. Harden vs Ginobli is going to be the greatest left-handed playoff match-up of all time.

That’s what I say. You show your hand way too early if you start Harden. No one else can create or score like he can on their bench. Besides he usually finishes games anyway and finishing will be huge in this series.

Per Basketball Reference, James Harden played 31.4 minutes a game this season. He gives OKC a threat against other teams second units. Not to mention Sefolosha guards the other teams best wing players so Durant and Westbrook can expend more energy on the offensive end.

yaw giving the thunder way too much credit. they barely got past the lakers on some 2011 denver broncos shit. the spurs are just too good right now. they aint gonna fall apart in the last 2 minutes like the lakers did.

4-1 is barely getting past? And honestly the Lakers have the talent to actually win a title so even if it had went 7 they were playing a harder squad than Utah and the Clipps. I’m kinda sorta rooting for the Spurs for the exact reasons you don’t want them to win plus a few of my own but if Miami makes it to the Finals, I want OKC to stomp a hole in their faces. This series is still up for grabs tho, it’s only the 1st day. Like I said on the other post, A LOT of adjustments are gonna be made.